Saturday, January 12, 2008

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are ready for the new year. Lots of bits and pieces about virtually all of the various athletic programs below.

In one of the articles about Husker Baseball you will notice that the Huskers will be playing their season opener at Stanford on Friday February 22nd. I don't have a time yet...I will let you know when we find out, but put the date on your calendar. Thats just a couple days before our annual Founders' Day event (more on that in another email), but we'll try to put together a group outing to watch the team at Sunken Diamond like we did a few years back when they played Stanford in the Regionals...lots of fun even though they lost.

Also wanted to put in a plug for our popular Mission Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Emily Ray)...see the info below for tickets and times.

They say our new head coach is a pretty tough dude...so in the Husker Humor column at the bottom is a "Just How Bad is Bo Pelini?" list. Pretty funny, but definitely just for the adults in the crowd (and I took out a few that were a little too graphic). Thanks to Buck for passing it along.

Go Big Red (White and Blue),Carl

==========WINTER GRADUATIONS....

Nebraska's winter graduating class of student-athletes is one of the largest in school history and is 30 percent larger than last December's group of 31 graduates. The Huskers' 45-member graduating class consists of student-athletes from 14 U.S. states and three foreign countries, including Germany, Latvia and South Africa. Nearly all of Nebraska's varsity teams are represented in the group, while the Huskers graduate with nearly 20 different majors in their fields of study. Despite the diversity of the group, a total of 20 Nebraska natives make up nearly half of the class. Nebraska continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the nation with an exhausted eligibility graduation rate of 94 percent.

Among the graduates were Jason Wassung of the Gymnastics team, Ashley DeBuhr and Deven Porter of the Softball team, Christina Houghtelling and Meghan Smith of the Volleyball team, Mike Harmelink, Jon Klausing and Al Smith of the Baseball team and Jessie Bruch of the Soccer team.

Sarah Pavan became the fourth volleyball player in history to be a four-time, first-team All-American.

Lincoln - A school-record five Nebraska volleyball players were honored Wednesday, as the American Volleyball Coaches Association revealed its All-America teams.

The Huskers placed five players on the teams, including first-team selection Sarah Pavan, second-team honorees Rachel Holloway, Christina Houghtelling and Tracy Stalls and third-team recipient Jordan Larson. It is the most Huskers named All-American in one season, breaking the previous mark of four set three previous times including both 2005 and 2006.

Nebraska leads the nation with 62 AVCA All-America certificates, six more than runner-up Stanford's total of 56. Nebraska has had at least one All-American every season since 1983, a total of 26 straight seasons, including 27 in John Cook's eight seasons as head coach.

==========TWO HUSKER SOCCER PLAYERS COMPETE WITH NATIONAL TEAMS...

Andrea Zuniga played for the U-20 Chilean national team.

Lincoln-Two current Husker soccer players took time away from Lincoln to represent their countries over Thanksgiving break, as Andrea Zuniga and Alexa Cardona competed for Chile and Puerto Rico, respectively. The two local products both completed their freshman year in the Husker program this fall.

Zuniga, a native of Omaha, traveled to Miami where she tried out for the Under-20 Chilean national team. She was selected to the 25-member squad as a forward and competed against other Olympic development teams in a four-game tournament. The team went 1-3, but Zuniga earned three starts and saw action in all four games. Zuniga, whose father was born in Santiago, Chile, saw the experience as an honor.

"It was a once in a lifetime opportunity so I am very thankful for it," she said.

Zuniga will compete with the team at several tournaments in the spring.

Meanwhile, Cardona competed with the Puerto Rican national team in Olympic qualifying in Puerto Rico. Cardona, a native of Lincoln, has been a member of the team for over a year. She played the full 90 minutes in two games against Trinidad and Tobago as a midfielder and forward. Puerto Rico split the games to narrowly miss qualifying, but Cardona still cherished the chance to compete.

"It was the best opportunity I have ever experienced in my life," she said. "It was an honor because the level of play is so high. It is a totally different feeling there. The teams are so good."

Cardona, who is half Puerto Rican and half Cuban, played on the 18-member team with her cousin. Cardona plans to compete with the team at tournaments in the spring.

Sophomore Daniel Brûlé helped Team 2 to victory, as he posted top finishes on parallel bars and high bar.

Lincoln- After two days of nail-biting competition, the Nebraska men's gymnastics team wrapped up its intrasquad meet on Friday afternoon, with Team 2 edging out Team 1, 352.55-352.50.

Nebraska's returners shined after Thursday's events, as juniors Eric Daigle, T.J. Schmidt and James Mauldin each earned event titles. Daigle posted a 14.50 on floor exercise and Mauldin earned a 14.00 on still rings for Team 1, while 2007 NCAA All-American Schmidt scored a 14.20 on pommel horse for Team 2. After the first three events, Team 1 jumped ahead of Team 2, 124.20-122.85.

Team 1 began to take over again in day two, as sophomore John Robinson claimed the vault title with a 15.80. However, sophomore Daniel Brûlé helped Team 2 forge ahead in the final two events, capturing first place in parallel bars with a 14.35 and first in high bar with a 14.50.The meet provided good competition for the athletes and also gave the coaches a chance to determine competitors for the 2008 season.

"The intersquad is kind of the beginning of figuring out who is going to compete this season," Assistant Coach Chuck Chmelka said. "We have kind of a unique year where we have a lot of guys, so we have to whittle it down. Only 12 guys can compete for our team, so we have to make a 12-man team out of basically 17 guys. Every week it could change, but we have to keep it at 12. It may be where we have to sacrifice a couple of tenths on some events to gain some on others. It's really hard and we've been going through a bunch of scenarios and there are a lot of different ones. We're going to use this meet as a rank to see where we're at-who surprised us, who didn't, who hurt themselves, who helped themselves-and then go from there."

Despite suffering a broken hand in the off season, three-time All-American Stephen Tétrault also saw action in the competition, earning high scores in every event.

"I think what we did in the last couple of days was pretty productive," Tétrault said. "It's a good sign of what will come. We have a lot to work on obviously, but it's a good starting block to where we want to go throughout the year."

Not only did the Huskers get a chance to iron out strengths and weaknesses, they had the opportunity to test out the new NCAA scoring system. The NCAA recently adopted a new international Olympic scoring system to judge all collegiate men's gymnastics competitions during the 2008 season. Instead of a "10" being the perfect score, there is no cap on the score a gymnast can receive. For example, a gymnast could score up to 18.50 if he did most of the difficult skills perfectly, however top performers are starting from between 15-17. After a start value is determined for each event, judges will then deduct points for any technical errors or form breaks to create a final score.

"USA Gymnastics and the International Gymnastics Association have used the system for four years, so it's kind of interesting to see where we fit in with the best of the world," Chmelka said. "There are scores of 16 out there, but they will be hard to come by. The system is hard, confusing and involves more math, but I think it was good that all of the people to show up to the intersquad were here to learn what it is all about. Once the fans learn how to do it, they're going to have a lot more fun at gym meets and hopefully our crowds will go up and that's certainly what we need."

Nebraska will get a chance to officially use the new scoring system when they open the 2008 season on Friday, Jan. 11, at the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo. The two-day event, which features No. 3 Oklahoma, Arizona State and Air Force, is set to begin at 8 p.m. on Friday with the team competition and continue with the individual event competition at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

==========NEBRASKA NAMED ONE OF THE TOP-10 WINNINGEST SOFTBALL PROGRAMS...

Rhonda Revelle and Lori Sippel have combined to spend 40 seasons at NU in the NCAA era.

As part of its "The Best of...." series, CSTV selected Nebraska as the 10th-winningest softball program of the NCAA era, which dates back to 1982, when the Huskers appeared in the inaugural Women's College World Series, one of their Big 12-leading seven all-time appearances.

One of only 10 teams nationally to record 900 wins in the first 25 years softball was an NCAA sport (1982 to 2006), the Huskers own an all-time NCAA record of 943-487 (.659) following the 2007 season.

Fans can view the top-10 list and submit their own rankings by clicking here. Below are a few highlights of Nebraska's rich tradition in the 26 years softball has been an NCAA sport:

BOWL GAME WITHDRAWAL...(thanks to Prez Dave for sending this along)...

I think more than a few folks here are having "bowl game withdrawal" . . . in today's paper a short item:

Big Red fans bowled over when NU isn't in big game

Last Thursday afternoon, hosts from a local radio show invited people to a sports bar to watch Nebraska play Notre Dame in a bowl game simulated on a PlayStation 2.

It was expected that a few might show up, but surely not enough that the place would have to call in extra waitresses. There ended up being about 550 people screaming at pixilated figures in Nebraska helmets to win a game.

"I don't know when we have ever needed your support more than we need it right now. We need everyone, everywhere individually and collectively to help us bring our program back to the level where we all want it to be." - Nebraska Interim Athletic Director Tom Osborne

Less than an hour after Bo Pelini was introduced as Nebraska's head football coach, the phone rang in my office.

Consider This Great Gift Idea For Your Favorite Husker FanYour favorite fan's name on our Wall of Champions

Huskers.com has received several inquiries this week about a popular holiday gift idea your favorite fan's name engraved on our Wall of Champions inside the North Stadium entrance of the Osborne Athletic Complex.

For a $100 donation, you can ensure that your favorite fan's name will be connected to the rich tradition of Nebraska athletics. For each additional $100 donation, you can add the names of other important Husker fans in your life.

Checks to the Nebraska Athletic Department should be made payable to the University of Nebraska Foundation and sent to the Nebraska Athletic Development Office, P.O. Box 880154, Lincoln, NE., 68588-0154.

It was a gentleman named Jesse Halbgewachs, who had watched the Pelini-Tom Osborne press conference on Huskers.com in Virginia Beach, Va. He was so enthused about what he'd just seen, he'd written a $100 check and called to see where to send it.

"This is a proud day. Bo covered a lot of bases and hit on some very good things," Halbgewachs said. "You always ask: Were there any warm and fuzzy moments?" For me personally, it was very touching when Coach Pelini said that Nebraska was a special place. He said it with such conviction and passion. The statement he made about Nebraska being a big family was also very touching."

Halbgewachs, a 34-year-old native of Gothenburg, Ne., and now a Baptist pastor in Tidewater, Va., is a University of Nebraska at Kearney graduate and a self-described "devoted member" of the Nebraska football family.

"I just want to show my support after what I just heard," he said. "I heard an interim athletic director explain why he selected a defensive-minded coach and why it wasn't good to re-invent the wheel on offense. That makes complete sense to me.

"I liked the way both leaders handled themselves in the press conference," Halbgewachs said. "Coach Pelini said how eager he was to learn from Coach Osborne, and he gave Coach Solich credit comments that spoke volumes to me.

"I realize change doesn't happen overnight, but it's going to happen much quicker with an athletic director and a head coach focusing on reuniting the former players and showing everyone their respect and appreciation. That's why I decided to write this check (which has been received)."

Paul Meyers, associate athletic director-Development, says that unless otherwise stipulated, mailed-in donations get earmarked for the Husker Award Fund, which was established to provide funds for scholarships, operations, capital improvements and other special projects.

Derek Freeman, operations manager in NUs Athletic Development Office, says $100 checks to the Husker Nation Championship Drive are by far the donation of choice for individual donors.

"Right now, we have 2,680 accounts that have given $100 or less to our capital campaign," he said. "All but about 400 of those accounts have given exactly $100."

Everyone who gives between $100 and $999 to the Husker Nation Championship Drive is listed on the Husker Nation Wall of Champions inside the front entrance of the Osborne Athletic Complex. The $1,000 and above contributors continue to be featured prominently on the wall closest to the 40-foot waterfall/fountain in the North Stadium lobby.

"We have plenty of room on our walls for more names from our growing Husker family," Meyers said.

In an open letter to 55,000 Nebraska alums in the current issue of Nebraska Magazine, Osborne said he didn't "know when we have ever needed your support more than we need it right now. We need everyone, everywhere individually"

Osborne also wrote that "Whether you choose to support us emotionally or financially or both rest assured that you can help us re-energize our department and renew our focus."

He ended the letter, saying "Nebraska football is ingrained in my family like it is in your families. That's why it is so important that we all unite with a shared vision and a commitment to re-establish the tradition few of us will ever take for granted again."

Let us know what you think of Osborne's thoughts. Or feel free to share your views on how and why you support the program.

Editor's note: Online contributions are the easiest method of making donations to the NU Athletic Department. Checks to the Nebraska Athletic Department should be made payable to the University of Nebraska Foundation and sent to the Nebraska Athletic Development Office, P.O. Box 880154, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0154.

==========

DORN NAMED TO WALLACE AWARD WATCH LIST...

Huskers.com - Johnny Dorn has won 31 games in three seasons at Nebraska.

Lincoln - University of Nebraska right-handed pitcher Johnny Dorn earned preseason recognition this week, as he was selected to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List.

A senior from Grand Island, Dorn anchors the Husker pitching staff after compiling a 10-3 record in 16 starts last season. He struck out 71 over 93 innings of work as a junior, highlighted by a career-high 12-strikout complete game against UC Riverside in the NCAA Tempe Regional. Dorn's 10 wins were the most by any returning conference starter this spring.

A three-time All-Big 12 pick, Dorn enters his senior season with a 31-9 career record and ranks second on Nebraska's career wins list. He is 10 wins shy of the school mark for wins held by three-time All-American Shane Komine, and Dorn ranks on NUs top-10 list in both innings pitched (280.1, fourth) and starts (43, fourth).

Dorn will look to become Nebraska's second Wallace Award winner, as Alex Gordon won the award in 2005 en route to consensus national player-of-the-year honors.

Dorn and the Huskers begin spring practice on Feb. 1, 2008 with the season opener set for Friday, Feb. 22, at Stanford.==========

Back by popular demand, the dynamic and brilliant saxophonist Ashu returns to San Jose to perform with MCO in a concert featuring instruments of the woodwind section. Ashu was born and raised in Northern California and began playing the saxophone at age 10. At age 25, Ashu has established an extraordinary ability to communicate with audiences through his charismatic and moving performance style. While his virtuosity continues to thrill listeners, his artistry reaches far beyond this, demonstrating a unique personality and musical voice. He has also repeatedly defied conventions by winning major competitions traditionally won by pianists and violinists.

When Pelini takes a swim, he doesn't get wet, the water gets Pelinied.

Bo Pelini doesn't read offenses. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

Before Chuck Norris goes to sleep at night, he checks his closet for Bo Pelini.

Bo Pelini once played 18 holes of golf using a 12 inch strip of rebar and a sun dried tomato. He shot a 54.

Bo Pelini could kill Chuck Norris nine different ways with his headset and four different ways with his play chart.

Bo Pelini sleeps with a night light. Not because he is afraid of the dark but because the dark is afraid of Bo Pelini.

Superman wears Bo Pelini pajamas to bed.

Bo Pelini didn't hang the moon. He stared down an asteroid and it stopped in it's tracks.

Bo Pelini's calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd; no one fools Bo Pelini.

Bo Pelini was originally cast as the main character in 24, but was replaced by the producers when he managed to killevery terrorist and save the day in 12 minutes and 37 seconds.

Bo Pelini doesn't cut his grass, he dares it to grow.

Bo Pelini used to beat the sh*t out of his shadow because it was following him to close. It now stands a safe 30 feetbehind him.

They say that Superman's only weakness is kryptonite. Bo Pelini laughs at Superman for having a weakness.

Bo Pelini's dog is trained to pick up his own poop because Bo Pelini will not take sh*t from anyone.

Bo Pelini can build a snowman out of rain.

Bo Pelini's wristwatch has no numbers on it. It just says, "Time to kick ass."

GO HUSKERS!

And seen recently on a billboard near downtown Lincoln to announce the changes coming to Husker Football, "BOFENSE", in huge letters on a red background! The picture was taken from just east of Haymarket Park from the side road next I-180. Only in Nebraska! (Thanks to Dick Kistler for passing this along)